Kris Brown take s break as the skate night ends at the RollerCade roller rink during R&B night on Tuesday, Dec, 29, 2020, in Detroit. "Friday nights as a little kid after school with my fiends skating and enjoying the time in a place you grew up in," he said. "It's just me and my skates for those four or five hours."

Devin, left, cues up a shot as Derek Pfaff, right, watches at their basement decorated with high school football memorabilia from each one the families four brothers on Sunday, April 25, 2021, in Harbor Beach. Derek attempted suicide at the age of 19 using a 10-gauge shotgun after returning home over winter break. “We're a tight-knit family, no problems, kids all get along good and no fighting. I never allowed that amongst themselves. And so you just never think it’d be one of your own,” Jerry Pfaff, Derek’s father said. He was approved for a face transplant surgery in August of 2020 in Cleveland, but his insurance provider refused to cover the operation due to its experimental surgery title. The family has appealed multiple times to no avail and instead started a GoFundMe with the goal to raise a million dollars.

Sasha Cassadine does his make up before performing at a weekly drag show hosted by Flip Phone Events At Crave on Sunday, June 20, 2021, in Minneapolis. Cassadine has been performing for 15 years.

Talonya Adams poses for a portrait outside Arizona Capitol Building on Friday, Nov. 18, 2021, in Phoenix. Adams twice represented herself in court and won verdicts that found when she was fired from the Senate in 2015 she was retaliated against for raising concern about pay disparity and discrimination.

“When it was stolen and I didn’t have anything to play on, I was depressed,” said Mike Johnson during an impromptu jam session on April 23, 2019, while taking a break from driving his semi-trailer. An on-and-off trucker since 2005, Johnson got his second guitar five months earlier from the money he’d saved up by living out of his truck. At the age of 42, Johnson started playing the guitar roughly 14 years ago, “but I ain’t never played in any clubs or anything.”⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ He spoke about his troubles of being addicted to sex and also being a loner. “You ever seen ‘Inception’ where you don’t know where you are or what’s real,” Johnson said while he explained the troubles of being in the music industry in Kansas City, struggling with homelessness, and having his truck repossessed. Music is what he does to escape it all. ⁣⁣Johnson’s goal is to eventually get to a point of stability and start performing his own music for small crowds.

Sabira, a university student who immigrated from Afghanistan, poses for a portrait while protecting her identity out of concern for her family back home. She was a part of a cohort of female students who came to Arizona State University as refugees as the country experienced a wave of emigration after the return of the Taliban as a result of the U.S. Military withdrawal.

Sebastian Obregon, 1, walks Beacon park during an early celebration for Cinco De Mayo on Sunday, May 2, 2021, in Detroit.

Ahmad Naeem Wakili poses for a portrait on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, in Tucson. Wakili was a judge in Afghanistan and helped sentence and imprison members of the Taliban and ISIS. With the help of Council-member Steve Kozachik, Wakili has been trying to relocated his wife and daughter to Tucson from Istanbul, Turkey.

Dave Gatzmer demonstrates how to use a rotary phone in his home on Thursday, June 8, 2021, in St. Louis Park. Gatzmer’s, a commercial painter, family members began gifting him interesting phones as presents that range from as old as the 1920s to just before cell phones.

Lee Earley poses for a portrait inside his home on Thursday, April 8, 2021, in Detroit. Earley, 65, has been trying to start a private security guard agency, but his two felony convictions from over 20 years ago for cashing a bad check and carrying a concealed weapon are holding him back from getting a Concealed Pistol License and a business license from the state. New Michigan laws will take effect on Sunday that will expand eligibly for criminal record expungement. Earley hopes that it will finally erase his record and let him start his business.

Jeff Barton, Phoenix City Manager, poses for a portrait outside his office on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, in Phoenix. Barton, who grew up in public housing in a poor Pennsylvania neighborhood, became Phoenix’s first ever Black city manager and took on the job of managing nearly 15,000 employees and a nearly $2 billion budget.

Saul Velazquez, Executive Chef at Sante, poses for a portrait with an assortment of dishes on Thursday, May 5, 2022, in Scottsdale. “We want you to eat well, but still feel good,” Velazquez said. The chef hopes his restaurant brings a California-esque healthy and flavorful approach to the rising restaurant scene in metro Phoenix.

Makaiya Eley has her make-up done by Getisa Ross, right, during the fourth annual Self-Awareness Appreciation Day put on by the non-profit, Take My Hand at the ShayBaby Make Up Bar on Sunday, March 21, 2021, in Warren. Eley was nominated to be one of 20 people to receive services for the day.

Liberty safety LJ Hunter watches as his teammates run play drills during practice at Liberty High School on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, in Peoria. Hunters mother, Angela Critser, 38, was killed in a drive-by shooting two years ago in Phoenix. Since then, Hunter has looked to his football teammates for comfort and purpose.

Narjes Al Hraishawi, 14, middle, grabs onto her sister's Fatima, 8, face while holding her four-year-old brother, Baqer, on Wednesday, August 7, 2019, in their home in Columbia, Missouri. Narjes is the oldest daughter in a family of nine children ranging from one to 17-years of age who immigrated to the US roughly two years ago from Iraq after their father received death threats from Iraqi militia. Her mother is usually cooking dinner, cleaning, or taking care of the babies, which leaves some of the other maternal duties on Narjes. Her father spends months on end in Iraq continuing his work as a project supervisor for the US Army Core of Engineers in order to provide financial stability for the family who lives in public housing.